From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2004-12-02 16:45:16 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] shots
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20041202164516.62300.qmail@web50809.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi, Carol, and everyone else,
>
> We DID pre-treat -- always. It made no difference.
There is a HUGE difference between pretreating once
with benadryl and pretreating for four days with
dexamethasone, a steroid. You may want to ask your
vet about this. Normal pretreatment (which we do for
ferrets who have had mild reactions) is just benadryl.
One other odd note: Romana reacts to benadryl. She's
done it twice now so we won't give that to her again.
Pretreating with dexamethasone just once on the day of
the vaccination worked for her.
>
> I have another question for Caitlyn
I'm in trouble now.
>
> HOW DO YOU GET A FERRET TO AGE 9???
I honestly don't know. There are a large number of
factors involved, not the least of which is luck.
>I hear of these cases, but have
> NEVER gotten one past 7 or 7 1/2. My vet said the
> same thing, altho' he dropped it to 6.
Six? I have two pushing seven now :) In the ferret
club where I used to live over the past seven years we
had lots make it to 7 or 8, a good number make it to
9, a handful saw 10. I know of two that died at 11
and one at 12. Ferrets who live 10+ years are very
rare indeed.
> I keep telling him about the stories I hear of
> 8 - 11 year-old ferrets, but he keeps saying that
> one or two of that age out of THOUSANDS isn't proof
> that those people are doing anything better than I
> am. I'm not so sure.
I wonder what HE is doing wrong if ferrets in his care
only see six years of life. Average lifespan, IME, is
six to nine years. Most literature supports that.
Having said that I don't think you are doing anything
at all wrong if your ferrets consistently live to 6 or
7. Even losing ones younger doesn't mean that you
did anything wrong. We lost Ryo Ohki short of her
fourth birthday due to metastasis of an adrenal
carcinoma, which is a rare thing. We lost Pertwee at
five and a half to liver cancer we didn't even know he
had. He died suddenly with no warning. I'm not at
all sure we could have done anything different that
would have allowed them to live longer.
>
> What do you feed?
A mixture of the highest quality commercial foods,
with Totally Ferret being the largest part (about
75-80%). We mix in Zupreem and/or Mazuri. We also
supplement with Bob Church's Chicken Gravy. For older
and ill ferrets we give lots of gravy.
> What are their housing conditions?
Free roam in part of the house when we're around.
Caged in a large cage with lots of hammocks, sleep
sacks, toys, etc... when we're not. We use old towels
for bedding. We clean litter pans twice a day and
change bedding every 2-3 days. We wash the bedding
with just a little bleach to disinfect it. We also
wash hammocks, toys, etc... regularly. We use
recycled newspaper litter (unscented).
> Do they get a lot of darkness?
More than they used to, at least. We provide lots of
potentially dark sleeping areas all the time. We get
it really dark where the cage is when we go to bed.
It still isn't a natural day-night cycle, but it's the
best we can do and still have opportunity to play and
interact with them after work, particularly in winter.
> Do you keep them outside (which I just couldn't do)?
No.
The two I had live longest were rescued lab ferrets.
We have enough records to know the the guess on their
age is pretty close. I can't tell you for sure if
Podo was 10 when he died but he certainly had to be
very close to it. It is vaguely possible (but
unlikely) that he was older than that. Kodo was
certainly over 9.
Our vet in NC attributes their longevity and health
(no known problems until old age) in part to the fact
that they were not neutered before they were sexually
mature. One of the 11 year olds (not mine) I
mentioned had exactly that same advantage.
Other factors include genetics (the small breeding
pool at some large breeders doesn't help), nutrition,
adequate exercise, and good/prompt vet care.
Obviously some of these factors are beyond our
control.
All the best,
Caity and the fantastic four
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